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A crowd of about 40 people packed into the Port Washington Common Council chambers Tuesday to speak against proposed developments in the city, at times shouting, cutting off comments and interrupting speakers, causing Police Captain Mike Davel to step in.

The Village of Newburg’s administrator and deputy clerk both suddenly resigned last week, saying they felt unsafe amid a contentious atmosphere in village government that has developed in recent months.

Village Administrator Rick Goeckner and Deputy Clerk Chrissie Brynwood, who also is village treasurer, both submitted letters of resignation on Thursday, May 16, saying they were stepping down immediately.

They’re not the unknown soldiers — their families definitely haven’t forgotten them — but their names have been missing for about 18 years from Ozaukee County’s War Memorial, an oversight that will soon be corrected thanks to some detective work by a local historian and the effort of many local veterans and county officials.

The county War Memorial at the Justice Center on South Spring Street in Port Washington was dedicated in September 1991 and includes the names of 90 Ozaukee County veterans who died in the nation’s wars.

The Port Washington Police and Fire Commission on Monday threw its weight behind a task force proposal to build a new, $5 million fire station off Grand Avenue, saying the facility is necessary to ensure public safety, particularly for people living on the city’s west side.

“We can’t wait anymore. We have to do it,”
commission member Jennifer Clearwater said.

“We’ve been very fortunate we haven’t had a disaster where we couldn’t reach the west side of the city,” Chairman Rick Nelson said. “Let’s do it before we have a disaster.

A Port Washington man who is defending himself against a charge that he helped his son escape a police officer during a Jan. 15 chase was admonished by a judge last week and warned not to make inappropriate statements during his trial in August.

In stating his appearance for the court record during a hearing in Ozaukee County Circuit Court, Ross A. Larsson said, “Ross Larsson here under threats of violence.”

A proposal to effectively ban electronic changeable letter signs — aka LED signs — in Port Washington met with resistance from the Common Council and a local businessman during the ordinance’s first review Tuesday night.

Instead of banning these signs, some aldermen said, the city should take steps to regulate such elements as the brightness of the images and the speed with which the message changes.

“I think what’s really important about signs is that they’re done well,” Ald. John Sigwart said.